New Community Garden Aims to Grow More Than Vegetables

By R. Gabriel Villalobos

As spring awakens across the high desert, something is taking root behind the Carlsbad Public Library. A fledgling community garden, spearheaded by volunteer Shiloh McCollum and supported by the library’s assistant director Michele Robertson, is preparing for its debut season—one that they hope will eventually yield not just tomatoes and arugula, but a deeper sense of connection.

For McCollum, who moved to Carlsbad just last November, gardening is hardly a new passion. Growing up on the western slope of Colorado, she first fell in love with the rhythm of seeds and soil during summer visits to her cousins in Kansas.

“I would basically browse through the vegetables in my grandma’s garden and eat a whole pile of them before I’d collect the rest for the dinner table,” McCollum recalled in a recent interview.

Later, after inheriting her grandmother’s houseplants, she built a sprawling garden of her own—“tomatoes and peppers of every possible variety ever,” along with native plants and even poisonous ones. “I really like the stories with poisonous plants,” she said with a laugh.

Now renting a room in Carlsbad, McCollum has traded her personal plot for a set of potted cacti and succulents. But she wasn’t about to give up gardening entirely. When she learned through her role with 4H that the library had installed a community garden in October, she jumped at the chance to lend her knowledge and enthusiasm.

“I was like, ‘Yes, I love gardening. Let’s do it,’” McCollum said.

The result is a raised-bed garden behind the library, designed with a careful layering system McCollum explained: coarse organic fill at the bottom, followed by compost, finer soil, and rich topsoil at the top. “It’s a really effective way to build long-term gardening beds,” she said excitedly. “You have all the nutrients you need, and you can just slowly add to it over time.”

Already, seeds planted in the garden are sprouting well. “The lettuce greens, the arugula, some of the sunflowers—they’re growing like crazy,” McCollum said with a smile.

The project is funded by the Carlsbad Soil and Water Conservation District. The beds were built by CHS construction trades students. The garden’s early goals are modest. This year, the focus will be on annuals and pollinator flowers, giving community members a chance to simply get their hands dirty. According to Robertson’s email, the garden aims to “engage residents, support pollinators, and create hands-on learning and volunteer opportunities.” 

McCollum hopes the space becomes something more: a place where children can graze on cherry tomatoes the way she once did, and where passersby might snag an herb or a pepper on a whim. If there’s enough produce, she added, donating to a local soup kitchen “would be amazing.”

The project’s first major planting event will be announced soon on the Friends of the Carlsbad Library Facebook page. April 11 between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. will mark the first Caffeine & Cultivation gathering, a monthly seed-swap and coffee hour. The program continues on the second Saturday of each month through September 12. The library’s seed library, offering vegetable, herb, flower, and fruit seeds, is available year-round at the circulation desk.

Plans are in place to fill the garden beds on April 11 between 10 a.m. and noon, and to plant by May 2. Community members interested in helping with the community garden can contact Michele Robertson by calling the library at 575-885-6776 or emailing at mdrobertson@cityofcarlsbadnm.com.

Participation has been slow so far, McCollum acknowledged. Early work sessions fell on Wednesday nights, conflicting with church and other obligations. But having a planting day on a Saturday, she said, should help.

“Even if we start slow this year because it’s a new project, I hope this eventually grows into something the community bonds over and looks forward to every year,” she said. “Starting the seeds, watching them grow, planting, cultivating, saving seeds later—gardening is year-round.”

For updates, follow the Friends of the Carlsbad Library Facebook page. The library is located at 101 S. Halagueno St.

“Growing food is one of the most human things that we can do,” McCollum said.

Shiloh McCollum poses with plants at Yampah Mountain High School in Glenwood Springs, CO, in June 2022. (Kim Willie Photo)